Taiwan’s consumer confidence index edged down 0.3 points to 101.7 this month from a record-high level last month, but the gauge remained above its average of 90.5 in the past year, according to a survey released yesterday by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) and Roy Morgan Research.
The above-100 reading reflected respondents’ optimism about the recent pickup in the domestic economy, ANZ-Roy Morgan said.
“The jobless rate in Taiwan fell to a 14-year low, while the stock market performed very strongly. All these bode well for Taiwan’s growth prospects,” Hong Kong-based ANZ senior economist Raymond Yeung (楊宇霆) said in a statement.
The survey showed that household inflation expectations fell sharply to 1.3 percent this month, down 0.9 percentage points from last month. The latest economic report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday forecast that Taiwan would see an average of 0.5 percent inflation this year and 1 percent next year, as oil prices gradually recover, employment prospects improve and incomes rise.
Yeung said he expects the central bank, which is holding its quarterly board meeting tomorrow, to keep interest rates unchanged, on the back of a positive economic outlook and low inflation this year.
“Interest rate normalization will only start in March next year,” Yeung added.
The latest survey, which polled about 1,000 people by telephone, showed that 40.2 percent of Taiwanese respondents were optimistic about the economy over the next 12 months, while 17.4 percent held a negative outlook.
However, the survey showed a deterioration in public confidence over longer-term economic prospects, with respondents who expect economic conditions to remain good over the next five years decreasing to 32.9 percent, down 2.7 percentage points from last month’s survey, according to the statement.
In terms of personal finances, 11.2 percent of respondents said their families were “better off” financially compared with the same period last year, while 29.5 percent said their families were “worse off.”
Additionally, 13.2 percent said now is a “good time” to buy major household items, with 26.2 percent thinking it a “bad time.”
Meanwhile, the ADB report forecast that Taiwan’s GDP would grow 3.7 percent this year and 3.6 percent next year, citing a positive outlook for Taiwanese exports and tourism, as well as repatriated earnings from overseas investments.
Domestic consumption would increase significantly this year, thanks to rising consumer confidence, low unemployment, an expected increase in the minimum wage in the middle of the year, declining fuel prices and increase in Chinese tourism, the report said.
However, the public sector investment outlook for this year and next year is “somewhat less positive, moderated mainly by the government’s continuing efforts to consolidate its budget and uncertainty over energy-related investments,” the ADB said.
As for private investment, the bank forecast an expansion by the start of next year following an announcement from a leading contract chipmaker that it would ramp up production of next-generation chips.
Additional reporting by CNA
US PROBE: The Information reported that the US Department of Commerce is investigating whether the firm made advanced chips for China’s Huawei Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract maker of advanced chips, yesterday said it is a law-abiding company, and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations including export controls. The Hsinchu-based chip giant issued the statement after US news Web site The Information ran a story saying that the US Department of Commerce has launched a probe into TSMC over whether it breached export rules by making smartphone or artificial intelligence (AI) chips for China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為). “We maintain a robust and comprehensive export system for monitoring and ensuring compliance,” the statement said. “If we
DEMAND FOR AI CHIPS: Net income in the third quarter surged 31.2% quarter-on-quarter to NT$325.26 billion, the strongest quarterly return in the company’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday raised its revenue forecast to annual growth of 30 percent this year, thanks to strong and sustainable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) processors for servers. It was the second upward adjustment from 25 percent year-on-year growth estimated three months ago, despite recent concerns about whether the AI boom could be another technology bubble. “The demand is real. It’s real. And I believe it is just the beginning of this demand. Alright, so one of my key customers said the demand right now is ‘insane,’” TSMC chairman and chief executive C.C.
Starbucks Corp might have the more recognizable name, but 7-Eleven’s City Cafe remains the king of Taiwan’s fresh coffee market, helped by the convenience store chain’s extensive market presence and product diversification. President Chain Store Corp (PCSC, 統一超商), which runs both the 7-Eleven and Starbucks store chains in Taiwan, established the City Cafe brand in 2004. The brand took off when actress Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂) became its spokesperson in 2007. City Cafe’s sales exceeded NT$10 billion (US$311.69 million) for the first time in 2015, surpassing the revenue of Starbucks Taiwan, and rose to more than NT$17 billion last year, exceeding the NT$14.98
COUNTRY-BASED: Setting ceilings on sales of the technology would tighten limits that originally targeted China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence amid security risks US officials have discussed capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp and other American companies on a country-specific basis, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would limit some nations’ AI capabilities. The new approach would set a ceiling on export licenses for some countries in the interest of national security, according to the people, who described the private discussions on condition of anonymity. Officials in the administration of US President Joe Biden focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the deep pockets to fund them, the people